President Jack Ryan faces a world crisis unlike any he has ever known in Tom Clancy's extraordinary #1 New York Times bestseller.
A high-level assassination attempt in Russia has the newly elected Ryan sending his most trusted eyes and ears—including antiterrorism specialist John Clark—to Moscow, for he fears the worst is yet to come. And he’s right. The attempt has left the already unstable Russia vulnerable to ambitious forces in China eager to fulfill their destiny—and change the face of the world as we know it...
From the Publisher
Praise for The Bear and the Dragon“Builds to an excitingly cinematic climax as Ryan toils to bring the world back from the brink of nuclear war.”—Entertainment Weekly
“Once Clancy pulls the trigger...nobody can touch his gift for describing combat.”—People
“Those who like heart-stopping action in their thrillers will not be disappointed...Entertaining and eminently topical...Clancy still reigns. The publication of The Bear and the Dragon reminds his fans that he is not likely to be dethroned any time soon.”—The Washington Post
“Exhilarating...You’d have to be numb not to be impressed by the scale of [Clancy’s] ambition, his feel for the way information now flashes instantaneously across the globe, his mastery of technological developments. No other novelists is giving so full a picture of modern conflict, equally adeptly depicting those at the top and bottom of military and intelligence systems.”—The London Sunday Times
“The most intricately plotted and in some ways the most satisfying of his military-techno thrillers since The Hunt For Red October...There’s enough new technology to satisfy the most demanding Clancy fan...A juicy novel within a novel, full of heavy artillery, intrepid aviators and shrewd generals.”—The Orlando Sentinel
“Clancy has a knack for stories that appear to come out of the daily headlines. The Bear and the Dragon confirms his title as a master of techno-thrillers.”—The Montreal Gazette
“Interesting characters...too-real plotting.”—The Florida Times-Union
“Clancy manages to thrill...The guts, the fun of these books, are the high-tech devices, the ingenious schemes and the inside look at military tactics. Clancy delivers here.”—The Denver Post
“Clancy is a master of detailespecially those having to do with military action and weapons...And he builds strongly moral, attractive characters, ones we would like to emulate.”—The Houston Chronicle
“The Bear and the Dragon works...Hypnotic appeal.”—The Fort Worth Star-Telegram
“Megasuspense...thrilling.”—Indianapolis Star
bn.com
The Barnes & Noble Review
Money makes the world go round. And in Tom Clancy's new über-thriller, The Bear and the Dragon, money -- along with chronic machismo and conflicting cultural ideology -- spawns a terrible world conflict. No surprises here: The Bear and the Dragon's 1,000 plus pages hold exactly what Clancy fans are hoping to find. Part murder mystery, part spy/technothriller,
The Bear and the Dragon also offers suspenseful human drama and a fascinating -- and frightening -- glimpse at how the wheels within three powerful governments might churn when the threat of world war looms large.
The Bear and the Dragon sees Clancy's most popular creation -- POTUS (President of the United States for the uninitiated) Jack Ryan -- back in the limelight after five years riding the pine. Even though Jack's back, calling The Bear and the Dragon a "Jack Ryan thriller" is an injustice, for Ryan is simply one thread in this complex, techno-lovin' tapestry of political maneuverings, military muscle pumping, and state-of-the-art -- and old fashioned "charm the ladies" -- espionage. The cast is enormous; while plenty of new characters are introduced, scads of familiar ones (such as John Clark and his "Men in Black" of Rainbow Six) play important roles.
The story begins in present-day Russia; Sergey Nikolay'ch Golovko, the Chairman of the SVR (the former KGB), is on his way to work in his souped-up Mercedes-Benz. While pondering the social and economic growing pains his country currently endures, Golovko notices a second car -- identical to his own -- pull up alongside. Suddenly, a man holding an RPG (a hand-held missile
launcher) emerges from the rear of a near-by garbage truck; before Golovko or his driver can react, the man fires his weapon at the other car, killing its occupants instantly. Now the question arises: Was Golovko the intended victim?
Meanwhile, Russia scores its first good luck in years. Two discoveries in Siberia are made: One is an enormous oil field; the other is an equally sizeable gold mine. Together, these new resources will drastically change the scope of the dilapidated Russian economy...and make other nations jealous in the process.
Also, a CIA spook stationed in Beijing -- who's posing as an employee with the computer company NEC -- establishes a relationship with the young female secretary of Fang Gan, one of the China's senior ministers. Shortly, detailed accounts, direct from Fang's office, of dirty politburo scheming will be available for Ryan's perusal.
These -- and several other occurrences -- are the building blocks for what will soon develop into one heck of a light show. While The Bear and the Dragon is fiction, the casual reader becomes convinced of the situation's plausibility. Is the Russian relationship -- not to mention our own -- with China as unstable as The Bear and the Dragon suggests? Well, this reviewer
can't say for sure, but that's Clancy's power and appeal: multi-faceted, high-stakes thrills with an engrossing and convincing insider feel.
The Bear and the Dragon is a masterfully woven tale -- one that will have readers contemplating the potential truths behind the fiction. Frightening indeed.
--Andrew LeCount
Barnes & Noble Guide to New Fiction
Newly elected President Jack Ryan faces a number of unstable and hostile political enemies, including China and Russia, in this forecast of future events by best-selling author Clancy.
USA Today
Clancy is a natural storyteller.
Dallas Morning News
When the door blows open and the shooting starts, nobody does it better than Tom Clancy.
Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly
"Klingons" is how hero Jack Ryan describes the villains--the Communist Chinese Politburo--of Clancy's mammoth new novel; other Yanks refer to Chinese soldiers as "Joe Chinaman." It's not for subtlety of characterization, then, that this behemoth proves so relentlessly engrossing. Nor is it for any modulation in the arc of its action, which moves insistently from standstill to hurtle. Nor is it for the author's (expressed) understanding of life's viscissitudes; in this Clancyverse, no white hat with a name dies, but every black hat gets whupped bad. Partly it's for the sheer bulk--if ever a book should come equipped with wheels, it's this one--which plunges readers into a sea of words so vast that, after hours of paddling happily through brisk prose, the horizon remains hidden from sight. Mostly, though, it's because that sea glitters with undeniable authority. Clancy has demonstrated in earlier books (Rainbow Six) that he towers above other novelists in his ability to deliver geo-political, techo-military goods on a global scale--and here he's at the top of that war-gaming. With aplomb, he spins numerous plot strands--among them: a Sino-American spy seduces his way into Politburo secrets; enormous oil and gold reserves are discovered in Siberia; the new Papal Nuncio to Beijing is murdered; the Politburo orders a hit on a top Russian official--that lead to a Chinese invasion of Russia and a credible war scenario that occupies the novel's last quarter and that culiminates in a nuclear crescendo. Each thread carries a handbook's worth of intoxicating, expertly researched--seemingly inside--information, about advanced weapons of war and espionage, about how various governments work, complemented always with ponderings about the tensions between individual honor and the demands of state. Add to that the excitement for Clancy fans of this being the first novel to feature not just Jack Ryan but also, in significant subordinate roles, Jack Clark and Ding Chavez of Rainbow Six and other tales, and you've got a juggernaut that's going to hit #1 its first week out and stay there for a good while. Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.|
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